Jimmy Stewart

For those who may not know, James (Jimmy) Stewart was the operations
officer for the 445th bomb group which flew B-24's. He arrived in
England via the South America to Africa to Scotland route in late
1943. Even though his position did not require he fly with the
squadron, he never the less did so, eventually flying 20 missions
including some of the toughest: Brunswick, Bremen, Frankfurt,
Schweinfurt and the 1000 plane raid to Berlin. Stewart actually had
300 or so hours prior to enlisting in the Air Force before Pearl
Harbor. He volunteered for combat.

The B-24 was considered to be a more difficult airplane to fly than
the B-17. The narrow Davis wing just did not perform as well at
25,000 feet as did the larger wing of the B-17. The B-17 was an older
design, but it was easier to fly. The B-24 was tough to fly in
formation because at high altitude it mushed and responded poorly to
the controls.

George McGovern was another unheralded B-24 pilot who flew out of
Foggia Italy.

Corky Scott

Corky Scott wrote:

For those who may not know, James (Jimmy) Stewart was the operations
officer for the 445th bomb group which flew B-24's.

My favorite Stewart story was the time a few of his people stole a keg of beer
from the officer's club. They had it stashed under one of the bunks. Stewart
walked into the hut and said he needed to talk with the men. As they gathered
around, he walked over to the bunk, lifted the hanging blankets, and drew himself
a cup of beer. Then he told them that the club was missing a keg of beer. "I
know you fellahs don't know anything about that, but, if you hear anything ...."

The keg made a miraculous reappearance at the club.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.

For what it's worth, the airport in Indiana, PA -- Jimmy Stewart's home
town -- is named after him. If you want to make a pilgrimage of sorts, you
could always fly there! While you are at it, you could also go to Arnold
Palmer airport about 30 miles south of Jimmy Stewart and visit yet another
Western Pennsylvania landmark.


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"Corky Scott" wrote in message
...

George McGovern was another unheralded B-24 pilot who flew out of
Foggia Italy.


I believe Tom Landry was another.

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004 21:19:55 GMT,
(Corky Scott) wrote:

For those who may not know, James (Jimmy) Stewart was the operations
officer for the 445th bomb group which flew B-24's.

He was also the president of the court martial that tried a B-24 crew
that bombed Switzerland. Not a bad book: "The Day We Bombed
Switzerland".

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (requires authentication)

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

For those who may not know, James (Jimmy) Stewart was the operations
officer for the 445th bomb group which flew B-24's.

At a lodging banquet last week, I ran into an old gentleman who flew B-24s
in the war. He now owns and operates a very successful B&B.

Naturally, we gravitated to his table for dinner, where he regaled me of
tales of flying over occupied Europe. He is in remarkable physical
condition for his age, having spent the last 35 years leading whitewater
rafting tours throughout the desert southwest.

My favorite story was when he was assigned to fly a Liberator to a
maintenance facility for landing gear work. The plane had been "red-X'd"
(as he called it) due to a hard landing, and the nosegear was secured in the
down position with wire. (!)

He grabbed a flight engineer -- not his usual guy -- and proceeded to fly to
the maintenance field which was on a river in Italy. On the way, without
any real navigational beacons or decent maps, they became lost. After
floundering around for over an hour, flying up every river they could find,
they eventually found the field.

On final approach he realized he was too high. Probably something to do
with being so light, or maybe he just screwed up.

Over the years my new friend had discovered that, with the wheels down, the
B-24 simply would NOT fly faster than 180 (?), no matter what you did. So,
as he had done so many times before, he simply pointed the nose down at the
runway and waited. His flight crew was used to this radical approach, but
this particular flight engineer was holding on for dear life, and appeared
to be praying as the ground rushed up at him...

My friend pulled out at the last second, made a normal landing -- and the
flight engineer departed the plane in a dead run as soon as he slowed
down...

Boy, I'm really going to miss these guys when they're all gone. What lives
they have lived!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

http://users.erols.com/viewptmd/Dad10.html

--
Bob (Chief Pilot, White Knuckle Airways)


"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...


Corky Scott wrote:

For those who may not know, James (Jimmy) Stewart was the operations
officer for the 445th bomb group which flew B-24's.

My favorite Stewart story was the time a few of his people stole a keg of
beer
from the officer's club. They had it stashed under one of the bunks.
Stewart
walked into the hut and said he needed to talk with the men. As they
gathered
around, he walked over to the bunk, lifted the hanging blankets, and drew
himself
a cup of beer. Then he told them that the club was missing a keg of beer.
"I
know you fellahs don't know anything about that, but, if you hear anything
....."

The keg made a miraculous reappearance at the club.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that
would
not yield to the tongue.

From: "G.R. Patterson III"
Date: 3/15/2004 7:30 PM Central



My favorite Stewart story was the time a few of his people stole a keg of
beer
from the officer's club.

J. Stewart got a mach + ride in a B-58 Hustler. His remark during the climb
out was so unlike the Jimmy Stewart we all came to know. "This is not an
airplane, it's a G. Damn rocket." They lost the AB on one engine yet the AC
managed to get him above mach one in a slight dive with three in max AB.
Mac-- ole B-58 maintenance guy. 43rd Bomb Wing, Carswell and Little Rock AFB.

Corky Scott wrote:
For those who may not know, James (Jimmy) Stewart was the operations
officer for the 445th bomb group which flew B-24's. He arrived in
England via the South America to Africa to Scotland route in late
1943. Even though his position did not require he fly with the
squadron, he never the less did so, eventually flying 20 missions
including some of the toughest: Brunswick, Bremen, Frankfurt,
Schweinfurt and the 1000 plane raid to Berlin. Stewart actually had
300 or so hours prior to enlisting in the Air Force before Pearl
Harbor. He volunteered for combat.

The B-24 was considered to be a more difficult airplane to fly than
the B-17. The narrow Davis wing just did not perform as well at
25,000 feet as did the larger wing of the B-17. The B-17 was an older
design, but it was easier to fly. The B-24 was tough to fly in
formation because at high altitude it mushed and responded poorly to
the controls.

George McGovern was another unheralded B-24 pilot who flew out of
Foggia Italy.

Corky Scott


The Stephen Ambrose book, "The Wild Blue", has a lot about McGovern's
B-24 experiences, and others' too. Not a bad read.

Tom Pappano, PP-ASEL-IA

Great stories guys. I loved them all. Jimmy's one of my favorite
actors.
My dad's favorite too. My wife's too young to know him. I'm alittle
too young for his movies too, but I try to rent oldies but goodies. I
tried to push old/black & white movies on her, some she liked some she
didn't. Mostly she didn't. We are of different era I guess.

Let's hear some more flying stories or war stories, which ever you may
have.

I truely find them enjoying to read. Thanks again.

Bryan "the monk" Chaisone